Following the police shooting of Jacob Blake (who was left paralyzed) in Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests have been ongoing for days. It comes as no surprise that Tucker Carlson would (not for the first time) side against protestors of police brutality, but his rhetoric on Tuesday grew so heated and over-the-top that people are calling for Fox News to give him the boot.
Of particular relevance with these calls for Fox News to take news against the anchor is Carlson’s defense of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old vigilante who opened fire (with a semi-automatic rifle) on protesters, killing two of them in the process. Rittenhouse has been arrested and (according to Antioch Police, via CNN) charged with first-degree intentional homicide. However, Carlson didn’t hide his on-air support for the teen.
“Are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder?” Carlson reasoned. “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would.”
Tucker Carlson: “So are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder? How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would.” pic.twitter.com/5Mm4L4Qejv
— Yashar Ali
(@yashar) August 27, 2020
People are rallying with disgust over Carlson’s apparent justification of Rittenhouse’s actions. They’re asking Fox News to take him off the air, as well as for consumers to boycott advertisers on the cable news network.
If they don’t take action after this, every one of Fox News’s executives, directors, and advertisers is complicit in Tucker Carlson’s racist, murderous rants. https://t.co/YbT8as1kHg
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) August 27, 2020
Tucker: How shocked are we that 17 year olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would pic.twitter.com/MGl7tdz9B5
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) August 27, 2020
Tucker straight up endorsing vigilante murder on the show tonight. What advertisers are still ok with this @slpng_giants https://t.co/MgmUkSgDsD
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) August 27, 2020
Fire @TuckerCarlson https://t.co/Rt1YOzXVf1
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) August 27, 2020
Fox News should immediately fire Tucker Carlson.
— Ares
(@AresStopell) August 27, 2020
Raise your hand if you want Tucker Carlson to be Fired.
— Steve Herzfeld
(@american2084) August 27, 2020
LAW AND ORDER?
Then:
FIRE TUCKER CARLSON!— ken olin (@kenolin1) August 27, 2020
Fire Tucker Carlson. What a scumbag. https://t.co/c3Azh61yCO
— Nick (@NickHanson_29) August 27, 2020
Tucker Carlson has no significant advertisers left, but at what point do large advertisers stop supporting Fox News, which rubber-stamped this call for vigilante violence tonight?
How can any corporation trust this network? https://t.co/1GJsfjxjRB
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) August 27, 2020
BREAKING: Tucker Carlson really just defended the radical right wing murderer Kyle Rittenhouse.
Call him what he is — A #RadicalRightWingMurder!
Who’s with me?
— Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) August 27, 2020
Tucker Carlson defending Kyle Rittenhouse’s decision to murder 2 people in a Kenosha, Wisconsin.
His show needs to be CANCELED.
And so do his ADVERTISERS.#CancelTuckerCarlson https://t.co/ZbkAFUJ7qz
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) August 27, 2020
Via the Daily Beast, Carlson has suggested that Rittenhouse was acting in “self-defense,” and he further condemned protesters, saying that “Kenosha has devolved into anarchy, the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it.” He added, “People in charge, from the governor of Wisconsin on down, refused to enforce the law. They stood back and watched Kenosha burn.”